No, Ukraine and Israel didn’t steal aid from Florida and North Carolina

Last week, the long-anticipated Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida. The tropical cyclone caused billions in damage to homes and businesses throughout Florida. Now, Floridians will be working hard to rebuild their state. 

Florida was not the only state that was devastated by hurricanes this year. Residents in North Carolina are still working to recover from Hurricane Helene. The state has received hundreds of millions in relief aid, but many still feel the storm’s effects.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been working tirelessly to ensure that Floridians and North Carolinians have the assistance they need to rebuild their states. But many residents in both states feel the agency was unprepared. There have been delays in assistance, and some believe there was inadequate preparation for the aftermath of the storms. Some have even blamed foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel for these delays. 

“If we renamed Florida and North Carolina to Lebanon and Ukraine, maybe [vice president] Kamala Harris would send disaster relief faster,” stated Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on his X account. “She’s made it clear that being Americans puts us last in line.” 

He was not the only one to make these claims. In a recent interview with Fox News, Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) alleged that the Biden-Harris administration had abandoned Florida and North Carolina and that the U.S. government prioritized aiding Ukraine and the Middle East instead of American citizens. 

Similarly, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and former President Donald Trump have claimed that the U.S. government is not doing enough to help Floridians and North Carolinians.

These takes, however, are misconstrued. Many politicians and residents across the U.S. assume that the government is sending “blank checks” to foreign countries. It just isn’t so, and the money being spent in Ukraine and Israel has nothing to do with the disaster relief being sent to Florida and North Carolina.

Congress deliberates on all financial matters. This includes foreign aid. The executive branch and Congress draft proposed legislation. The suggested aid is reviewed and voted on by elected officials, and the final decision is appropriated. 

In this case, Congress met in October 2023 to discuss a new supplemental aid package for Ukraine and Israel. For nearly seven months, Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate reviewed the proposed foreign assistance and rewrote the legislation. The bill was finally passed in April 2024, and the supplemental aid package had sizeable bipartisan support. 

The finalized supplemental aid package did not take money from other government programs. No other government program was cut to support the aid package. Instead, members of Congress agreed that the U.S. would provide nearly $100 billion in aid that would only be directed to defense aid to Ukraine and Israel. 

Second, Floridians and North Carolinians recovering from Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene need disaster assistance. This includes immediate needs such as food and water, financial aid for families affected by natural disasters, and recovery programs to help rebuild or replace lost property. 

Here is a critical fact that often goes unmentioned: U.S. aid to Ukraine and Israel, and especially to Ukraine, has come almost entirely from weapons stockpiles, not from the U.S. Treasury.

The U.S. sent High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, javelins, Army Tactical Missile Systems and other weapons and defense equipment. Similarly, the United States has provided tens of billions in defense equipment to Israel. The weapons sent to Ukraine and Israel would obviously be useless to Floridians and North Carolinians. Guns and ammunition cannot be eaten or used to rebuild. They cannot be used as disaster relief assistance. 

Many elected officials have been critical of U.S. foreign assistance, stating that the government should be more focused on disaster relief for Florida and North Carolina. However, many of the congressional members who have been critical of U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel were also among the 82 representatives and 18 senators who voted against the continuing resolution to fund the government last month. That bill, which several North Carolina and Florida legislators voted against, included funding for FEMA that is now going to help people in Florida and North Carolina. 

There is a lot of misinformation surrounding U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel. Many Americans have falsely assumed that the U.S. government has abandoned Floridians and North Carolinians as elected officials supposedly send billions of dollars in cash overseas. 

But this is simply not the case. The recent foreign supplemental aid package for Ukraine and Israel was heavily vetted for nearly seven months before it passed with strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate. Government programs were not cut to pay for it. Money was not taken from U.S. programs to aid these countries. 

Relief aid to Florida and North Carolina is not tied to this foreign financial assistance package. Assistance provided to Ukraine, Israel, Florida and North Carolina underwent different processes and Congress agreed upon the final financial amounts after holding a democratic vote. 

These distinctions are important. The U.S. must of course provide Floridians and North Carolinians with disaster relief for those impacted by the recent hurricanes. But as Floridians and North Carolinians work to rebuild their states after Hurricanes Milton and Helene, they should not blame Ukraine or Israel. 

Mark Temnycky is an accredited freelance journalist covering Eurasian affairs and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.